Giving Compass' Take:

• Amanda Zhou explains why the Trump Administrations move to rescind guidance for using race as an admissions factor is unlikely to impact many K-12 schools. 

• What are the consequences of school segregation? What is the purpose of rescinding this guidance? 

• Find out why one school district desegregated and then resegregated. 

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw guidance dealing with race in school admissions wasn’t just about colleges.

School districts across the country have grappled with how to integrate their schools, too. And one of the seven documents withdrawn by the education and justice departments offered a roadmap for districts looking to voluntarily integrate their elementary and secondary schools.

This move is important symbolically — particularly in light of a surge of discussions about the persistence of segregation in public schools.

What’s relevant to K-12 education is a 14-page Obama-era document that explained how school districts can attempt to racially integrate schools without getting into legal trouble. That’s what DeVos rescinded.

It offered advice for school districts looking to make policy changes to diversify schools. Districts should first consider factors like students’ neighborhood or poverty level. But, the guidance read, “if a school district determines that these types of approaches would be unworkable, it may consider using an individual student’s race as one factor among others.”

According to recent research, 60 school districts in 25 states have school assignment policies meant to create more diverse schools. Of those, just 12 districts take race into account, rather than just socio-economic status.

But it’s hard to tell if the guidance was a deciding factor for any school districts.

The guidance represents the official viewpoint of the administration, but the underlying law hasn’t changed. It does mean that districts won’t have the backing of federal government when it comes to race-conscious integration policies. That might make districts using race more fearful of a lawsuit.

Read the full article about race in admissions by Amanda Zhou at Chalkbeat.